It's a sight we have witnessed before this season. Alexis Sanchez limping out of the action, shoulders slouched, head down. Another injury, another opportunity wasted.
‘Is that the last we will see of Sanchez in a United shirt, walking down the tunnel at Huddersfield?’ wondered Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.
If the answer is yes, then some would say it’s a fitting venue for a desperately unfulfilling United career to come to an end — at the John Smith’s Stadium against one of the worst teams in Premier League history.
It is hard to think of a player who has failed to live up to expectations quite so spectacularly as Sanchez (right), who turned down Manchester City to join United 16 months ago on a whopping £500,000 a week. The Chile star still has three years left on his contract, but there is little doubt that United would like to move him on this summer. Finding a club prepared to pay those wages for a 30-year-old will be nigh on impossible. It’s understood United would loan Sanchez out and pay half his salary just to see the back of him.
His last start, against Southampton more than two months ago, was curtailed by a knee injury. Two appearances as a substitute followed before he was restored to the line-up here.
Again he failed to go the distance, slumping to the turf with an injury to his right ankle in the 51st minute.
Sanchez is expected to miss the last game against Cardiff and what is likely to have been an Old Trafford farewell. Neville, for one, wouldn’t miss him.
‘I don’t know if anyone can put any science or sense behind what has happened to him — it’s an absolute mystery,’ said the former United defender.
‘It’s as if one of the most tenacious football players you will ever see, with and without the ball, has lost absolutely everything.
‘That’s from confidence, to his energy, to his legs, to his dribbling abilities, to his goals. There is nothing left in Alexis Sanchez at all. And we are still waiting for him to turn up.
‘There are a number of imminent decisions to be made on a number of players at Manchester United and he is one of them. There has been talk that the club are thinking of cutting their losses on him and that looks favourite.’